Godmanchester – Buckden – Hemingford Grey – Little Paxton: 22 miles, 8 locks There never seems to be very long between one boat problem and the next. The most recent issue has been water heater related. A Webasto (that provides hot water and central heating via a timer and via an over-ride switch) had been installed in 2011. From time to time engineers have engaged with it, replaced bits, re-set the timer and so on. It was serviced last year at...

Denver – Ely – Godmanchester: 45 miles, 6 locks After the challenge of two foot high waves at sea and dense murk on the tidal Great Ouse, calm well-behaved water comes as somewhat of a relief. Cleddau and Tentatrice set off on Saturday from the Denver Sluices Complex     (described here  as “a little-known hero”).  Boats and crews had begun the 72 mile Great Ouse cruise upstream to Bedford. Between Denver and Ely (16 miles) three tributaries dive off to...

“See you at 0600 tomorrow then,” Daryl Hill, the Wash pilot had said. King’s Lynn is a good-looking town, as had been discovered in a recce in February 2014.  However, the plan for a two night stay on the King’s Lynn pontoon had been foiled as spaces on it for Friday night had been previously booked. The boats had to clear the mooring by 12 noon – and the departure to Denver had to be at the midpoint of a...

Boston to King’s Lynn: 29 miles, 1 lock Whose idea was this? Pitching, sliding, rattling, tossing … this was not serene and peaceful narrow boating! But to backtrack: Cleddau, Tentatrice and crews had navigated to Boston in South Lincolnshire en route to Bedford for the mid July River Festival . The cruise plan was to cross the sea (The Wash) from Boston to King’s Lynn in Norfolk, guided by a pilot who has knowledge of the local waters. The trip...

“I’ve told the others that there could be a boat trip. The boys might be interested.” So said Cheshire Mum, while regaling her own disrupted travel plans to Lincolnshire for an annual Graftonite * weekend. On Sunday there was a text: we’ll be down soon after 1030. “Down” was the River Witham at the pontoon at Fiskerton Fen.    They (how many would that be?)  would be walking down from the farm and the campsite. Suddenly there was a boarding...

Lincoln – Washingborough – Fiskerton Fen: 7¾ miles, 1 lock Cleddau and crew cruised out of Lincoln on Thursday afternoon to a delightful mooring pontoon at Washingborough. The moorings are beside the Water Rail Way, a walking and cycle path that shadows the river bank the 30 odd miles from Lincoln to Boston.    Tentatrice left the next morning,      crew prepared for all weathers, while Boatwif went in search of a post box in Washingborough village. . Poppies and...

Cleddau left her high security safe place at Burton Waters on Wednesday afternoon. Tentatrice left first,     but Cleddau was delayed until mid-afternoon by an engine service. The Captain manoeuvred the boat carefully from her mooring, a tight right,    a wriggle right,    then a mooring against the fuel jetty.     Bills paid, there was a push off from the stern, a holding tight at the bow then, with Cleddau’s nose pointed at the marina exit it was OFF.  There...

Passage along the tidal sections of the Trent is determined by high water times at Hull. On Sunday afternoon (May 13th) the friendly lock keeper at Cromwell got off his sit-on mower and led the Tentatrice and Cleddau crew reps up the flight of steps to his lock control cabin.    The best time to depart from Cromwell Lock, it transpired, was four hours after Hull high tide. Tide tables were checked and 0900 on Monday morning confirmed as the...

In six years of living about 14 miles or so away from Newark there are memories of only two visits, once to a toy shop and once to a tailor. Make of that what you will… Newark sits on the Fosse Way (the Roman road now known as the A46) and beside the Trent. The A1 is close by and the East Coast main line railway runs through the town. It has long been a transport crossroads… Back in 1942...

Nottingham to Newark: 21 miles, 7 locks by river, 21 miles by road. From the babbling waters at the Shugborough Estate Essex Bridge (photo from 16th April)    to Holme Lock,     just east of Nottingham, is 43¾ miles and 28 locks.  A notice beside Holme Lock provides some vital statistics: the lock chamber is approximately 40 feet deep when full and the contents would fill about 10,000 bath tubs. Big lock – serious river! About 2 miles further on...